Archive By Section - Letters to the Editor

Thank you citizens of Turlock and outlying areas for your generous contributions during our poppies for donations campaign May 1 through 31. As usual, your generosity was outstanding. It is only through your help that we are able to use this money exclusively for the benefit of veterans and their families. Be assured that this money will be spend wisely.

WOW! Was I ever blessed Saturday! I wish to thank Love Turlock for all the hard work they did on my front and back yard. God blessed me with the Love Turlock angels. They all worked hard on cleaning up my yard. Everyone of these sweet wonderful and loving people worked over three hours on making my yard beautiful again. I can't thank them enough. Dan Tallman was the project team leader. I have cried so many tears of joy; it's just unbelievable how all of these people opened their hearts and did this for me.

I have followed government actions and policies most of my life; to me it is imperative that we are aware of what decisions and actions are being made on our behalf. Currently I have a few concerns about our local government I feel should be addressed so the voting public can make more informed decision about those representing us.

As a recent visitor to your community I wanted to write to share my appreciation for the warm welcome we received. This past weekend, I, along with our university softball team traveled to Turlock from Canada to participate in the Cal State Stanislaus Tournament of Champions. It has been a number of years since our team has participated in this event and given our experience this year I am confident we will return again and again.

The idea that Denair's Superintendent Edward Parraz was too compassionate to make hard decisions, and specifically didn't want to lay off employees and thus is mainly responsible for the district's financial problems, is not supported by the report generated by CPA Teresa Ryland who, as required by state law, examined the district's financial planning, status, and history. Her job was to determine how Denair became one of seven districts out of 1,107 in California to receive a negative certification this year; they cannot pay their bills.

I would like to tell you about another extraordinary young man who came out of Turlock about the same time as Colin Kaepernick. His name is Brandon Koch and he was an avid skateboarder, loving son, brother, friend and nephew and all around good guy. He was always there for anyone who needed him. Two articles have appeared in the Turlock Journal. The first is dated April 28, 2012, and the second August 15, 2012.

Stanislaus County has between 10 and 12 thousand gang members, over 5,000 are documented gang members. To put these numbers into perspective, gang members in our community represent a higher number than the entire population of Denair, Del Rio, Westley, Grayson, Hickman, and Hughson combined.